Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for
thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

Subject: We ought to behave
ourselves every day as though we had not dependence on any other day.

The
design of the wise man in this book of Proverbs, is to give us the precepts of
true wisdom, or to teach us how to conduct ourselves wisely in the course of our
lives. Wisdom very much consists in making a wise improvement of time, and of
the opportunities we enjoy. This is often in Scripture spoken of as a great part
of true wisdom; as Deu. 32:29, “O that they were wise, that they understood
this, that they would consider their latter end!” And Psa. 90:12, “So teach
us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” So the
wisdom of the wise virgins is represented as consisting much in this, that they
improved the proper season to buy oil.

Therefore the wise man in
these books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, agreeably to his design, insists on
this part of wisdom. He tells us the advantage of seeking Christ early; Pro.
8:17. And advises us “to do what our hand findeth to do, with our might;”
Ecc. 9:10. He advises young people to remember their Creator in the days of
their youth, while the evil days come not, in which they shall say they have no
pleasure; Ecc. 12:1. So here he advises us to a wise improvement of the present
season. — In the words are two things to be particularly observed.

1. The precept, not to
boast of tomorrow; i.e. not to speak or act as though it were our own. It is
absurd for men to boast of that which is not theirs. The wise man would not have
us behave ourselves as though any time were ours but the present. He that boasts
of tomorrow, acts as though he had tomorrow in his possession, or had something
whereby he might depend on it, and call it his own.

2. The reason given for this
precept; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. It is a good
reason why we should not behave ourselves as though the morrow were our own,
that indeed it is not; we are not sure of it; we have no hold of future time; we
know not whether we shall see the morrow. Or if we do know that we shall see it,
we know not what we shall see on it. — Hence, we ought to behave ourselves
every day, as though we had no dependence on any other.

SECTION I

Needful precautions.

To prevent a
misunderstanding of the doctrine, I observe that it is not meant, that we should
in every respect behave as though we knew that we should not live another day.
Not depending on another day, is a different thing, from concluding, that we
shall not live another day. We may have reason for the one, and not for the
other. We have good reason to depend on another day, but we have no reason to
conclude, that we shall not live another day.

In some respects we ought to
carry ourselves, as though we know we should not live another day, and should
improve every day as if it were the last. Particularly, we should live every day
as conscientiously and as holily as if we knew it were the last. We should be as
careful every day to avoid all sin, as if we knew that that night our souls
should be required of us. We should be as careful to do every duty which God
requires of us, and take as much care that we have a good account to give to our
Judge, of our improvement of that day, as if we concluded that we must be called
to give an account before another day.

But in many other respects,
we are not obliged to behave ourselves as though we concluded that we should not
live to another day. If we had reason to conclude that we should not live
another day, some things would not be our duty which now are our duty. As for
instance, in such a case it would not be the duty of any person to make
provision for his temporal subsistence during another day. To neglect which, as
things now are, would be very imprudent and foolish, as the consequences would
show, if every man were to act in this manner. If so, it would never be man’s
duty to plow or sow the field, or to lay up for winter; but these things are
man’s duty; as Pro. 6:6, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways,
and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in
the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.” And chap. 10:5, etc. “He
that gathereth in the summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest, is
a son that causeth shame.” And many other places might be mentioned.

So, on the other hand, if we
were certain that we should not live another day, some things would be our duty
today, which now are not so. As for instance, it would be proper for us to spend
our time in giving our dying counsels, and in setting our houses in order. If it
were revealed to us, that we should die before tomorrow morning, we ought to
look upon it as a call of God to us, to spend the short remainder of our lives
in those things which immediately concern our departure, more than otherwise it
would be our duty to do. — Therefore, the words which forbid us to boast of
tomorrow, cannot be extended so far as to signify, that we ought in all
respects to live, as if we knew we should not see another day. Yet they
undoubtedly mean, that we ought not to behave ourselves in any respect, as
though we depended on another day.

SECTION II

The precept
explained.

Boast not thyself of
tomorrow. In this precept two things
seem to be forbidden.

First,
boasting ourselves of what shall be on the morrow, or behaving ourselves as
though we depended on particular things to come to pass in this world, in some
future time. As when men behave themselves, as though they depended on being
rich, or promoted to honor hereafter; or as though they were sure of
accomplishing any particular design another day. So did the rich man in the
gospel, when he did not only promise himself, that he should live many years,
but promised himself also, that he should be rich many years. Hence he said to
his soul, that he had much goods laid up for many years.

And if men act as though
they depended upon it, that they should another day accomplish such and such
things for their souls, then may they be said to boast themselves of tomorrow,
and not to behave themselves as though they depended on no other day. As when
they behave themselves, as though they depended upon it, that they should at
another day have such and such advantages for the good of their souls; that they
should at another day have the strivings of God’s Spirit; that they should at
another day find themselves disposed to be thorough in seeking their salvation;
that they should at another day have a more convenient season; and that God at
another day would stand ready to hear their prayers, and show them mercy.

Or if they act as though
they depended upon it that they should have considerable opportunity on a
deathbed to seek mercy; or whatever they promise themselves should come to pass
respecting them in this world, if they act as depending on it, they boast
themselves of tomorrow.

Second,
another thing implied, is our boasting of future time itself, or acting as
though we depended on it, that we should have our lives continued to us another
day. Not only is the command of God delivered in the text transgressed by those
who behave themselves as depending upon it, that they shall see and obtain such
and such things tomorrow; but by those who act as depending upon it, that they
shall remain in being in this world tomorrow.

Both these ways of boasting
of tomorrow are reproved by the apostle James, chap. 4:13, “Go to now, ye that
say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year,
and buy and sell, and get gain.” By promising themselves that they shall do
such and such things, and that they shall get gain, they boast themselves of
what shall come to pass in such a time. The apostle in the next verse teaches
them, that they ought not to do this, no nor so much as depend upon seeing
another day, or on having their lives continued, verse 14, “Whereas ye know
not what shall be on the morrow: for what is your life? It is even a vapour that
appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” And in verse 15 he
teaches us that both are uncertain and dependent on the will of God, viz.
Whether we shall live another day, and if we do, whether such and such things
shall come to pass? “For that you ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall
live, and do this or that.” Therefore he add in verse 16, “But now you
rejoice in your boastings; all such rejoicing is evil.”

SECTION III

When men act as
though they depend on another day.

First, they
will do so, if they set their hearts on the enjoyments of his life. I
mean not, if they have any manner of affection to them. We may have some
affection to the enjoyments of this world; otherwise they would cease to be
enjoyments. If we might have no degree of rejoicing in them, we would not be
thankful for them. Persons may in a degree take delight in earthly friends, and
other earthly enjoyments. It is agreeable to the wise man’s advice that we
should do so. Ecc. 5:18, “It is good and comely for one to eat and drink, and
to enjoy the good of all this labour that he taketh under the sun.” — But by
setting our hearts on these things, by placing our happiness on them, and
letting out the current of our affections after them — by turning and fixing
our inclinations so much upon them, that we cannot well enjoy ourselves without
them, so that very much of the strength of the faculties of our minds is
employed and taken up about these things — we show that we have our dependence
on another day.

The man who doth, thus acts
as though he depended on another day, yea many other days, in the world. For it
is most evident, that if the enjoyments of this world be of such a nature that
they are not to be depended on for one day more, they are not worth the setting
of our hearts upon them, or the placing of our happiness in them. We may rejoice
in the enjoyments of the world, but not in such a manner as to place the rest of
our souls in them. As the apostle saith, we should rejoice in them as though we
rejoiced not, 1 Cor. 7:30. So that if the joy should fail, our stock may hold
good. And in this case we must behave ourselves only as if we had lost a small
stream of joy, but still had the fountain in full possession. We should conduct
ourselves as those who have not the fountain of their joy shaken, though some
appurtenances have failed. Our happiness as to the body of it, if I may
so speak, should yet stand as on an immovable foundation.

They who are very much
pleased and elated with the enjoyments of the world, certainly behave themselves
as though they had much dependence on their continuance for more than one or two
days more. — They who addict themselves to vain mirth, and lead a jovial life,
show that they set their hearts on the enjoyments of the world, and act as those
who depend on more days than the present. For if they were sensible, they could
not depend on any future time, but that death would put an eternal end to all
their carnal mirth before tomorrow, they would have no heart to spend the
present day in such a manner as they now do. It would immediately produce in
them a disposition far from levity and vanity.

And when persons are very
much sunk with the loss of any temporal enjoyments, or with any temporal
disappointments, it shows that they set their hearts upon them, and behave as
though they boasted of tomorrow, and depended upon their long continuance of
life. If they had no such dependence, they would not be overwhelmed by their
frustration. If they be very much sunk, and the comfort of their lives destroyed
by it, it shows that those temporal enjoyments were too much the foundation on
which their comfort stood. That which makes a building totter, and threatens its
destruction, is not the taking away of some of the exterior parts of the
superstructure, but the removal of some considerable part of the foundation on
which the house stands.

Second,
if men are proud of their worldly circumstances, it shows that they have a
dependence on tomorrow; for no man would think it worth his while to vaunt
himself in that which is to be depended on only for a day. Though a man have a
great estate today, he will not be puffed up with it, unless he depend upon
having it tomorrow. A man who hath no dependence, but that he may tomorrow may
be in the grave, where the small and great are upon a level, Job 3:19. Will not
be much lifted up with his advancement to a post of honor. That person will not
be proud of his rich and fine clothes, who is sensible that he may be stripped
by death tomorrow, and sent out of the world, as he came naked into it. He will
not today be very proud of his personal beauty, who hath no dependence on
escaping tomorrow that stroke of death which will mar all his beauty, and make
that face which he now thinks so comely, appear ghastly and horrid; when instead
of a ruddy and florid countenance, there will be the blood settled, cold and
congealed, the flesh stiff and clayey, the teeth set, the eyes fixed and sunk
into the head. Nor will he today very much affect to beautify and adorn with
gaudy and flaunting apparel, that body concerning which he is sensible that it
may be wrapped in a winding sheet tomorrow, to be carried to the grave, there to
rot, and be covered and filled with worms.

Third,
when men envy others their worldly enjoyments, their wealth, their worldly ease,
or their titles and high places — their sensual pleasures, or any of their
worldly circumstances — it shows, that they set their hearts on the things of
the world; and that they are not sensible that these things are not to be
depended upon for another day. If they were, they would not think them worth
their envy. They would appear so worthless in their eyes, that they would not
care who had them, nor who went without them. — So when they contend about
worldly possessions and enjoyments (as almost all the contentions that are in
the world are about these things), it shows that they have dependence on
tomorrow. Otherwise they would not think the enjoyments of the world worth
contending about. They would be very much of the temper recommended by Jesus
Christ. Mat. 5:40, “He that will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat,
let him have thy cloak also.”

Fourth,
men behave themselves as if they depended on another day, when they rest at ease
today, in a condition out of which they must be delivered before they die. When
a man’s mind is at rest, there is something that he rests in. It must have
some foundation, either real or imaginary. But if the man be in a condition from
which he is sensible he must some time or other be delivered, or be undone, it
is impossible that he should rest in the thoughts of remaining in his condition
always, and never being delivered from it. For no man is willing to be ruined.
No man can rest in that which he conceives to be connected with his own misery
and undoing. — Therefore, if he rest in such a condition for the present, it
must be on a supposition, that he shall be delivered from it. If he rest in it
today, it must be because he depends on being delivered another day, and
therefore depends on seeing another day.

We in this land generally
profess, that as we are by sinful nature, we are exposed to eternal death, and
that therefore there is a necessity that we get out of a natural condition some
time before we die. And those among us who are sensible that they have never
passed through any such change as in Scripture is called a being born again, though
they be not sufficiently convinced that there is any such place as hell, yet
have a kind of belief in it; at least they do not conclude that there is no such
place, and therefore cannot but be sensible that it would be dreadful to die
unconverted. Therefore, if they be in a considerable degree of ease and
quietness in their condition, it must be because they have a dependence on being
delivered out of such a condition some time before they die.

Inasmuch as they are easy,
remaining in such a condition today, without any prospect of present
deliverance, it shows plainly that they depend on another day. If they did not,
they could have no quietness in their spirits; because, if there be no grounds
of dependence on any further opportunity, then what they are exposed to, by
missing the opportunity which they have today, is infinitely dreadful. —
Persons who are secure in their sins, under the light of the gospel, unless they
be deceived with a false hope, are generally so because they boast themselves of
tomorrow. They depend on future opportunity; they flatter themselves with hopes
of living long in the world; they depend on what shall come to pass hereafter;
they depend on the fulfillment of their good intentions as to what they will do
at a more convenient season.

Fifth,
men behave themselves as those who depend on another day, when they neglect
anything today which must be done before they die. If there be anything, which
is absolutely necessary to be done sometime before death, and the necessity of
it be sufficiently declared and shown to the person for whom it is thus
necessary, if he neglects setting about it immediately, sincerely, and with all
his might, certainly it carries this face with it, that the man depends upon its
being done hereafter, and consequently that he shall have opportunity to do it.
— Because, as to those things which are absolutely necessary to be done, there
is need, not only of a possibility of a future opportunity; but of something
which is to be depended on, some good ground to conclude that we shall have
future opportunity. Therefore, whoever lives under this gospel, and does not
this day thoroughly reform his life, by casting away every abomination, and
denying every lust — and doth not apply himself to the practice of the whole
of his duty towards God and man, and begin to make religion his main business
— he acts as one who depends on another day; because he is abundantly taught
that these things must be done before he dies.

Those who have been seeking
salvation for a great while, in a dull, insincere, and slightly manner, and find
no good effect of it, have abundant reason to conclude, that some time before
they die, they must not only seek, but strive to enter in at the strait gate,
and must be violent for the kingdom of heaven. And therefore, if they do not
begin thus today, they act as those who depend on another day. — So those who
have hitherto lived in the neglect of some particular known duty, whether it be
secret prayer, or paying some old debt, which they have long owed to their
neighbor — or the duty of confessing some fault to a brother who hath aught
against them, or of making restitution for some injury — they act as those who
depend on another day.

Sixth,
men behave themselves as though they depended on another day, if they do that
today which some time or other must be undone. There are many things done by men
which must be undone by them. They must go back again from the way which they
have gone, or they are ruined to all eternity. Therefore, in doing these things,
they act as those who depend on future opportunity to undo them. As when a man
cheats or defrauds his neighbor in anything, he acts as one that boasts of
tomorrow. For he must undo what he doth before he dies; he must some time or
other make restitution, or divine justice, which oversees all things, and
governs the whole world, and will see to it that right be done, will not let go
its hold of him.

So when men hearken to
temptation, and yield to the solicitations of their lusts to commit any sin they
act as those who depend on another day. They do what must be undone. What they
then do must be undone by hearty and thorough repentance, or they are ruined and
lost forever. So if persons have been seeking salvation for a time, and
afterwards are guilty of backsliding, and turn back after their hands have been
put to the plow, they act as those who depend on another day. For what they now
do, they must undo some time or other. They must go back again from their
backsliding, and have all their work to do over again. And these things must be
undone in this world, while men live; for there will be no undoing of them
afterwards; they may be suffered for, but never can be undone.

SECTION IV

Why we
ought not to boast of tomorrow.

I come now to show,
why we ought not thus to boast ourselves of tomorrow; but on the contrary, to
behave ourselves every day as though we had no dependence on another. And there
is this plain and sufficient REASON for it, viz. that we have no grounds
of dependence on another day. We have neither any foundation to depend upon
seeing any particular things come to pass another day, which we may hope or wish
for, nor upon enjoying another day in this world. We have nothing for a
foundation of dependence that we shall not be in eternity before tomorrow, as
both reason and experience show. — We have no promise of God that we shall
ever see another day. We are in God’s hands; our lives are in his hands; he
hath set out bounds; the number of our months and days are with him; nor hath he
told them to us. We see that the life of man at longest is very short, and
nothing is more uncertain. And it is a thing universal among mankind, that they
know not the day of their death. We see that great natural abilities, and
sharpness of wit, and clearness of discernment, do not help to any discovery in
this matter. Wise men are as uncertain of the term of their lives as others.

There are so many
ways and means whereby the lives of men come to an end, that no circumstances in
which a man can be are any security to him from death. That it is but a very
little while till tomorrow, is no good ground of dependence that we shall live
till then. We see that deaths as sudden as our dying before tomorrow morning,
are common in the world. We very often see or hear of sudden deaths. How many
suddenly, in a few minutes, pass from a state of health to a state of death, in
the daytime, by several kinds of disease, which give no warning of their
approach, and by many unforeseen accidents! How many go to sleep in health, and
are found dead in their beds in the morning! So that our present health is no
good ground of dependence that we shall live to see another day. — That
persons are now in youth is no good ground of dependence upon another day; for
sudden unexpected deaths are common even among those who are in the bloom of
youth. Nor is it any ground of dependence in this case, that a man is of a more
than ordinary healthy and strong constitution. It is found by experience, that
such are liable to sudden death as well as others. Job 21:23, “One dieth in
his full strength. His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened
with marrow.”

That persons have
already lived to see a great many days, and that after they had been often in
times past, told that they were uncertain of any future time. Or that persons
have a strong desire to live longer; or that they are now very unprepared for
death, both on temporal and spiritual accounts; is no ground of dependence on
the future. Death tarries for no man, but comes when and to whom he is sent, and
strikes the deadly blow, whether the man be prepared or not. That men have been
very useful in their day, and that it is of great importance to their families
and neighbors that they should live longer, is no ground of dependence. The most
useful men are often cut down by death, in the midst of their usefulness. The
same may be said, though we cannot see which way death should come at us before
tomorrow. To how many accidents, to how many diseases, are we liable, which may
prove fatal before tomorrow, which yet it is impossible for us to foresee! So,
if we be very careful of our lives, and our health, not to expose ourselves to
any dangers, still this is no ground of dependence as to any future time. Death
comes in many ways which were not thought of. Men foresee not the means of their
death, any more than the fish securely swimming in the water foresee the net, or
the bird that securely feeds upon the bait sees the snare. It is as the wise man
observes, in Ecc. 9:12, “For man also knoweth not his time; as the fishes that
are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are
the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.”

SECTION V

Serious
inquiries.

I shall improve
this doctrine, by putting you upon examining yourselves, whether you do not
boast yourselves of tomorrow, or whether you do not live in such a manner as you
would not, were it not that you depend on future time and future opportunity in
the world. Would not your behavior be very different from what it now is, if you
every day lived and acted without any dependence on seeing one day more? — You
cannot but acknowledge it to be most reasonable, that you should live and act
thus. You cannot but own, that you have no good ground of dependence on another
day; and therefore that you cannot act wisely any otherwise than in acting as
one who hath no dependence on any such thing. Therefore inquire whether you act
wisely and reasonably in this respect.

First,
do you not set your hearts much more on this world, than you would, if you had
no dependence on the morrow? Is not the language of the rich man in the gospel,
the secret language of your hearts? “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for
many years,” etc. Is not this the language of your hearts, with respect to
what you have gotten already; which makes you place your happiness so much in
it? And with respect to what of the world you are seeking and pursuing, is it
not with a dependence on enjoying it for a great while, when you shall have
obtained it? Are not your lands and other possessions which you have gotten, or
are about to get, in your own imagination, yours for a great while? — Would
your mind be so filled with thoughts and cares about these things, so much to
the exclusion of another world. Would you lay yourselves under so great
disadvantages for your soul’s good, by involving yourselves in worldly cares,
if you had no dependence on having anything to do with these things for more
than the present day? If you did not depend on considerably more time in the
world, would your inquiry be so much, What shall we eat, and what shall we
drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed? And so little, How shall we make our
calling and election sure? How shall we be assured that we are upon a good
foundation for another world, and that we are in such a state, that death cannot
hurt us? How shall we be sure that we are ready to appear before the
judgment-seat of a heart-searching God? — Would there be so much of your time
spent in laying up treasure on earth — and so little in laying up treasure in
heaven, that you might have store against the day of death — were it not that
you put death at a distance? Would you be so much raised at your temporal
prosperity, and so much sunk when you meet with crosses and disappointments in
your worldly affairs, if you did not think that continuance in the world is to
be depended on for more days than the present? — Let those who very much
affect to adorn their bodies in gaudy apparel, inquire whether they would think
it worth their while to spend so much time to make themselves fine, and to set
themselves forth as gayer than others, if they really had no dependence that
their bodies would be preserved one day longer from being clasped in the cold
arms of death?

Second,
inquire, whether you would not much less meddle with the concerns of others, and
be much more employed with your own hearts, if each day you had no dependence on
living another day. If you were sensible that you had had no other day to depend
upon than this, you would be sensible that you had great affairs of your own to
attend to. You would find a great deal of business at home between God and your
own soul. And considering that you cannot depend upon another day, it would seem
to you that you have but a short time in which to do it, and that therefore you
have need to be much engaged. You would find so much to be done, and so much
difficulty in doing it, that you would have little leisure, and little heart, to
intermeddle with the business of others. Your business would be confined to a
much narrower compass. You would have so much to do at home in your closets, and
with your own hearts, that you would find no occasion to go abroad for
intermeddling business to fill up your time.

But the truth is,
men conceive a great deal of time which they have to be filled up, and hence
they want business. They depend on tomorrow, and the day following, and next
month, and next year, yea many years to come. When they are young they depend on
living to be middle-aged, and when middle-aged they depend on old age, and
always put far away the day of death. Let them be young or old, there always
seems to them to be a great vacancy between them and death. Hence they wander to
and fro for business to fill up that vacancy. — Whereas if they were sensible
of the uncertainty of life, they would, in the first place, make sure of their
own business. The business of their own precious, immortal souls would be done,
before they would attend much to the business of other people. They would have
no desire or disposition to concern themselves with every private quarrel which
breaks out in the neighborhood. They would not think it much concerned them to
inquire into the matter, and to pass their censure on the affair. They would
find something else to do, than to sit by the hour together, discussing and
censuring the conduct of such and such persons, gathering up or rehearsing the
stories which are carried about to the disadvantage of this and that person.

We seldom, if ever,
see men who are upon sickbeds, and look upon themselves very dangerously sick,
disposed to spend their time in this manner. And the reason is, that they look
upon it doubtful whether they shall live long. They do not, so much as others,
depend on much time to spare. Hence their minds are taken up more about their
own souls’ concerns, than about the concerns of others. So it would be with
persons in health, if their health did not make them depend on a great deal of
time in the world.

Third,
if you each day depend on no other than but the present, would you not engage
and interest yourselves much less in party designs and schemes, than you are now
wont to do? Among a people divided into two parties, as this town hath been for
a long time, there is commonly much done by the partisans in forming schemes of
opposition to one another. There is always a strife, who shall get their wills
and carry their point. This often engages them, if not in open quarrels, in
secret intrigues. That there is so much done in these things, is a certain
evidence that they boast themselves of tomorrow, and put death at a distance.

Men would certainly
find themselves very much indisposed to such things, if they were so sensible of
the uncertainty of life, as to depend on no other day than the present. It is
therefore very proper, that you should examine yourselves in this particular, at
this time. If you really depended on no other day than the present, would your
hearts be so much engaged in strife between two parties, as they often are?
Would your spirits be so often raised and ruffled? Would you go about with so
much prejudice against such and such men; harboring so much of the old leaven,
which so often breaks out in heats of spirit; and, as an old sore which was
skinned over, but not cured, set to raging with a touch which would not have
hurt sound flesh? — Commonly in the management of a strife between two
parties, there is a great deal of envy. When any who belong to one of the
parties seem to prosper, the other party will envy them; it is a grievous thing
to them. So there is also much contempt. When one of the parties gets the
ascendant a little over the other, they are ready to make the utmost improvement
of it, and to insult the other party. — And there is commonly in such cases a
great deal of mutual secret reproach. When those of one party get together, then
is the time to inveigh against those of the other party, and to set forth their
injustice and their fraudulent practices. Then is the time for them to pass
their censure on their words and actions. Then is the time to expose their own
surmises and suspicions of what the other party intends, what it aims at in such
and such things, what the purposes of individuals are, and what they suppose
their secret actions are. — Then is the time for all that are friends in the
cause, and engaged in the same designs, to entertain one another by ridiculing
the words and actions of the other party, and to make themselves sport of their
folly and disappointments; and much is done at calling one another Raca and
fools, or other names equivalent, if not much more than equivalent. Then
is the time to lay their heads together, to plot and contrive how they shall
manage such an affair so as to disappoint the other party, and obtain their own
wills.

Brethren, these
things ought not so to be among a Christian people; especially among a people
that has made the profession which we have made. Nor would they be so if it were
not for your dependence on much future time in the world. If you were so
sensible of your continual liableness to death, that every day was the last you
depended upon, these things certainly would not be so. For let us but consider
what are the effects of death with respect to such things. It puts an end to
party-quarrels. Many men hold these quarrels as long as they live. They begin
young, and hold on through many great and sore afflictions and chastisements of
Providence. The old sore remains, when the supporters of nature bow, and the
eyes grow dim, and the hands tremble with age. But death, when that comes, puts
an end to all their quarreling in this world. Death silences the most clamorous,
and censorious, and backbiting tongue. When men are dead, they cease to lay
schemes against those of another party. Death dashes all their schemes, so far
as they have any concern in them. Psa. 146:4, “His breath goeth forth, he
returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.”

When men are dead,
they cease to bite and devour others; as it is said to have been of old a
proverb among the Egyptians, Dead men do not bite. There are many who
will bite and devour as long as they live, but death tames them. Men could not
be quiet or safe by them while alive, but none will be afraid of them when dead.
The bodies of those that made such a noise and tumult when alive, when dead, lie
as quietly among the graves of their neighbors as any others. Their enemies, of
whom they strove to get their wills while alive, get their wills of them when
they are dead. Nothing can please their enemies better than to have them out of
their way. It suits them, that those who were so troublesome to them, are locked
up safe in the close grave, where they will no more stand in their way. —
There are no more effects of their pride, their craftiness, their hatred and
envy. Ecc. 9:6, “Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy is now
perished.”

The time will soon
come, when you who have for many years been at times warmly contending one with
another, will be very peaceable as to this world. Your dead bodies will probably
lie quietly together in the same burying place. If you do not leave off
contending before death, how natural will it be for others to have such thoughts
as these, when they see your corpses; What! Is this the man who used to be so
busy in carrying on the designs of his party? Oh, now he has done. Now he hath
no more any part in any of these things. Now it doth not at all concern him, who
get their wills, or what party is uppermost. We shall hear his voice no more in
our town meetings. He will not sit any more to reproach and laugh at
others. He is gone to appear before his Judge, and to receive according to his
conduct in life. — The consideration of such things as these would certainly
have a mighty effect among us, if we did not put far away the day of death. If
all acted every day as not depending on any other day, we should be a peaceful,
quiet people.

Fourth,
inquire, whether or no you do not allow yourselves in some things, and endeavor
to flatter yourselves that there is no evil in them which you would by no means
dare to do if you had not a dependence on living till tomorrow. It is very
common among men, when they are strongly enticed to some sinful practice, by
their worldly interest, or by their carnal appetites, to pretend that they do
not think there is any evil in it; when indeed they know better. Their pretense
is only to serve a present turn. And if they expected to have their souls
required of them that night, they would by no means dare to persist in the
practice. — Therefore examine the liberties you take by this test. What would
you think of them, if you now should have the following news sent you by some
messenger from heaven; John, or Thomas (or whatever your name be), this night
shall thy soul be required of thee. How would such tidings strike you! How would
they alter the face of things! Doubtless your thoughts would be very quick; you
would soon begin to reflect on yourselves, and to examine your past and present
conduct. And in what colors would the liberties you now take, appear to you in
the case now supposed? Would you then conclude, that there is no evil in them?
Would you not be less bold to go forward and meet death, for having continued in
such practices? Would you dare to commit such acts again before you die, which
now you pretend are lawful? Would not the few hours which you would have to
live, be at all the more uncomfortable to you for having done such things? Would
you not presently wish that you had let them alone? Yea, would they not appear
frightful and terrifying to you? If it be thus, it is a sign that the reason why
you now allow yourselves in them, and plead for their lawfulness, is that you
put death at a distance, and depend on many other days in the world.

Fifth,
inquire, whether you do not some things on the presumption, that you shall
hereafter repent of them. Is not this the very thing which causes you to dare to
do some things? Is it not the very ground on which you venture to gratify your
lusts? Let young people examine all their secret carriage; what they do alone in
the dark and in secret corners. God knoweth, and your own hearts know, though
men do not. Put the question impartially to your own consciences; is not this
the very thing that gives you courage, that God is very merciful, and that he
often of his sovereign mercy gives repentance of great sins, and even willful
sins, and in consequence of repentance forgives? And so you hope that one day or
other he will do so to you. You intend some time hereafter earnestly to seek;
and you hope you shall be awakened. And if you be very earnest, as you intend to
be, you hope you shall be converted, and then you shall be forgiven, and it will
be as well as if you had never committed such sins.

If this be the
case, consider how you boast of tomorrow, and foolishly depend on future
opportunity to repent, as well as foolishly presume on the mercy of God to give
you repentance, at the same time that you take a course to provoke God, forever
to give you up to a sealed hardness and blindness, and to a most fearful
damnation; not considering that God will glorify his revenging justice as well
as his mercy; nor remembering the sad example of Esau, “who for a morsel of
meat sold his birthright; and afterwards, when he would have inherited the
blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though he sought
it carefully with tears.” Heb. 12:16, 17.

Sixth,
inquire, whether you improve this day, as one who doth not depend upon ever
having opportunity to keep another Sabbath, or to hear or read another
discourse. It appears from what hath been already said, that you have no grounds
to depend on any more such opportunities. Now the day is present, and so you are
in the better capacity to determine how it is with you. It is but for you to
reflect upon yourselves, to look inward, and see how it is with you at this
present time. And how is it? Are you as strict and as diligent in keeping this
Sabbath, watching your thoughts, keeping your hearts, striving in duties both
public and private, and improving ordinances, as might be expected of one who
hath no dependence on ever enjoying such an opportunity anymore; one who doth
not depend on ever setting foot again within the walls of God’s house? — Do
you attend to this address with that care, and desire, and endeavor to improve
it for your good, as you would, if you did not depend upon it, that your bodies
would not be in the grave, and your souls fixed in eternity, in their
unalterable state, before the next Sabbath?

Seventh,
are you careful to see to it that grounds of your hope are good? A man who hath
some hope of being in a state of acceptance with God, but is not sure, if he had
no dependence on any other day’s opportunity of making it sure, would be very
strict in examining himself and searching the grounds of his hope, and would not
rest in an uncertainty. He would be very thorough in informing himself what
might be depended on as good evidence of an interest in Christ, and what not;
and would be exceedingly strict in searching his own heart, to see whether there
was anything in him that comes up to the requisites laid down in the Scriptures.
— If what appears hopeful in him were dim and obscure, he would set himself
very earnestly to obtain that which would be more clear and manifest, and would
cry earnestly to God for it, and would apply himself to a diligent use of means
in order to it. And good reason why; for he depends on no other opportunity to
make his calling and election sure, than what he hath today. Inquire therefore
whether you be thus thorough in examining your hope. And are you thus careful
effectually to see to it, that you are on a sure foundation? If not, then you
behave yourselves as those that depend on tomorrow.

SECTION VI

How to
spend every day.

God hath concealed
from us the day of our death, without doubt, partly for this end, that we might
be excited to be always ready, and might live as those that are always waiting
for the coming of their Lord, agreeably to the counsel which Christ gives us,
Mat. 24:42, 43, 44; 25:13, and Mark 13:32, etc. — That watchman is not
faithful who, being set to defend a house from thieves, or a city from an enemy
at hand, will at any hour venture to sleep, trusting that the thief or the enemy
will not come. Therefore it is expected of the watchman, that he behave himself
every hour of the night, as one who doth not depend upon it that the enemy will
tarry until the next hour. Now therefore let me, in Christ’s name, renew the
call and counsel of Jesus Christ to you, to watch as those that know not what
hour your Lord will come. Let me call upon you who are hitherto in an unrenewed
condition. Depend not upon, that you will not be in hell before tomorrow
morning. You have no reason for any such dependence. God hath not promised to
keep you from it, or to withhold his wrath so long.

How can you
reasonably be easy or quiet for one day, or one night, in such a condition, when
you know not but your Lord will come this night? And if you should then be
found, as you now are, unregenerate, how unprepared would you be for his coming,
and how fearful would be the consequence! Be exhorted therefore, for your own
sakes, immediately to awake from the sleep of sin, out of sleep, and sleep no
more, as not depending on any other day. — Let me exhort you to have no
dependence on any future time; to keep every Sabbath, and to hear every sermon,
as if it were the last. And when you go into your closet, and address yourself
to your Father who seeth in secret, do it in no dependence on any future
opportunity to perform the same duty. When you that are young go into company
for amusement and diversion, consider that it may be the last opportunity
of the like nature that ever you may have. In all your dealings with your
neighbors, act as if you were never to make another bargain. Behave in your
families everyday, as though you depended on no other. — Here I shall offer
you two motives.

First,
consider, if you will hearken to this counsel, how much it will tend to your
safety and peace in life and death. It is the way really and truly to be ready
for death; yea, to be fit to live or fit to die; to be ready for affliction and
adversity, and for whatever God in his providence shall bring upon you. It is
the way to be in, not only an habitual, but actual preparedness for all changes,
and particularly for your last change. — It is the way to possess your souls
in a serene and undisturbed peace, and to enable you to go on with an immovable
fortitude of soul, to meet the most frightful changes, to encounter the most
formidable enemies, and to be ready with unshaken confidence to triumph over
death whenever you meet him; to have your hearts fixed, trusting in God, as one
that stands on a firm foundation, and hath for his habitation the munition of
rocks, that is not afraid of evil tidings, but laughs at the fear of the enemy.
It will be the way for you to possess the quietness and assurance spoken of.
Isa. 32:17, “The work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of
righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever.” — The servant who always
stands watching, will not be at all surprised at the news that his Lord is
coming. This will be the way for you to live above the fear of death. Yea, if
heaven and earth should shake, you may stand firm and unshaken, being settled on
a rock, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. O how happy are such
persons, who have such safety and peace! What a blessed peace is that which
arises from such a constant preparation for death! How happy therefore is that
servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing!

Second,
what dismal calamities and miseries mankind are subject to for want of this, for
want of behaving themselves every day, as not depending on any future day! The
way of the world is, one day foolishly to depend on another, yea on many others.
And what is the consequence? Why, the consequence with respect to the greater
part of the world is, that they live all their days without any true peace or
rest of soul. They are all their lifetime subject to bondage through fear of
death. And when death sensibly approaches they are put into a terrible fright.
They have a dismal view of their past lives. The ill improvement of their time,
and the sins they have been guilty of, stand staring them in the face, and are
more frightful to them than so many devils. And when they look forward into that
eternity whither they are going, how dismal is the prospect! O how do their
hearts shrink at the thought of it! They go before the judgment-seat of God, as
those that are dragged thither, while they would gladly, if they would, hide
themselves in the caves and dens of the earth.

And
what is worse yet than all the disquietude and terror of conscience in this
world. The consequence of a contrary behavior, with respect to the bulk of
mankind, is their eternal perdition. They flatter themselves that they shall see
another day, and then another, and trust to that, until finally most of them are
swallowed up in hell, to lament their folly to all eternity, in the lake that
burneth with fire and brimstone. — Consider how it was with all the foolish
virgins who trusted to the delay of the bridegroom’s coming. When he came they
were surprised, and found unprepared, having no oil in their lamps. And while
they went to buy, those who were ready went in with him to the marriage; and the
door was shut against them, and they came afterwards crying in vain, Lord,
Lord, open to us.